Negotiation Research October 7, 2009

Business Negotiations in the News

There have been two high profile negotiations reported in the news this week: General Motors-Penske and General Electric- Comcast.

GM-Penske

As part of its bankruptcy restructuring, GM planned to sell its Saturn brand. It had been negotiating with Roger Penske, who in turn had been negotiating with Renault-Nissan. Penske was unable to reach a deal with Renault, and the entire deal fell through. As a result, GM announced on Thursday that it will close all Saturn dealerships nationwide.

GM started Saturn in 1982 in order to compete with Japanese imports. The brand did well, and people liked its policy of no-hassle sales. However, sales had been declining, especially during 2009.

Read the Detroit Free Press account of the collapsed deal here: http://www.freep.com/article/20091001/BUSINESS01/910010457/1318/Collapse-Saturn-deal-stuns-GM

GE-Comcast

GE, parent company of NBC Universal, is negotiating with Comcast, the cable company, to spin off NBC by giving Comcast a 51% ownership. GE, which currently owns 80% of NBC, would buy the additional 20% from Vivendi. The new company would be entertainment focused and include some Comcast properties such as the Golf Channel.

CNBC is reporting that “Comcast would merge content assets that it values at as much as $6 billion, along with cash, so that it would take a 51% ownership stake. GE would control 49% and—as part of the spin off of NBC Universal—would be able to contribute as much as $12 billion in debt to the spun off entity...” (Read the full report here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/33123120 )

The negotiations are still ongoing and no deal has been struck.